Memory, cultures, societies, and heritage is an interdisciplinary network which aims to explore how the social, political and cultural changes continue to shape the memory of communities their heritage, culture and identities in the present.
The network is a hub for a community of scholars and researchers to instigate a cross-disciplinary discussions and collaboration about blended studies of history, cultures and heritage and to disseminate research work.
The purpose of this network
Memory is a four-dimensional element that links place with time and its components: the past, the present and the future. Although memory is triggered in the present, its actual genesis occurs in the past and travels through time and place to shape the future identities of individuals, communities and nations. Like the proverbial “butterfly effect”, any small social, political, cultural, or natural act can have a significant impact beyond the individual, the group, the generations and the geography. Therefore, in this dynamic and fast changing society, with its exponential dependence on technology, the impact of natural disasters, and the shift in the tectonics of political power, it is fundamentally important to understand how the past continues to play a role in our present memory and in the forging of the identity of both individuals and communities. It may also help us to realise the power of memory in understanding how the future may see the present through an exploration of the past in the present.
Aims and expertise
The network is formed out of the need to create a space for intellectual dialogue and exchange ideas which facilitate collaboration between researchers, cultural partners, heritage sites and museums both globally and within the UAE.
Our members have interdisciplinary research areas, including cultural and literary studies, heritage, psychology, philosophy, media and technology, art and modern history, languages and more, and we welcome new members with complimentary areas of expertise.
Themes
- Themes that we will examine include but are not limited to the following:
- The impact of the past on the present and on shaping identities
- Heritage in its broad definition, including the physical and intangible aspects
- Understanding the past through the present lens
- Role of media, visual art, and technology in shaping present experiences
- Technology’s role in forming future identity
- Ethical and moral issues in the era technology
People
Head of Research Dubai
Associate Professor of Psychology
Dubai Campus
Rasha Bayoumi is a health psychologist. She has been involved in research, clinical practice and teaching for the past two decades, in Canada, the UK, US, Sudan and Oman. She has worked for the World Health Organization on mental health and reproductive health. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research interests include reproductive ...
- Email
- r.bayoumi@bham.ac.uk
Associate Professor and Programme lead for Inclusion and Special Education Needs
Dubai Campus
Dr. Sarah Benson is an Associate Professor in inclusion and disabilities in the Department of Disability, Inclusion and Special Needs. She is the programme lead for the Inclusion and Special Education Needs PGCert and Masters’ in the UK and Dubai.
Dr. Benson has published articles and book chapters on inclusive policy in the Middle East. Her interests lie in not only inclusive policy, but ...
- Email
- s.k.benson@bham.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Arabic and Translation Studies
Language Co-ordinator for Arabic
Department of Modern Languages
Dr Anissa Daoudi's research examines how language and translations shape memories, public narratives, and enhance campaigns for transitional justice. Her project: Breaking the Protectorate of Silence: Violence Against Women in 1990s Algeria, funded by the Leverhulme Fellowship, focuses on the experience of women survivors of sexual violence and rape committed during the Civil War. ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0)121 414 5931
- Email
- a.daoudi@bham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in Arabic Cultural Studies.
Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music
Dubai Campus
Niveen's research interests and activities are broad and build on interconnected thematic areas such as heritage, cultural studies, memory, identity and trauma in contemporary literature and culture. She has worked extensively on the impact of historical trauma on the shaping of contemporary identities and memories of under-represented communities within the Middle East and American culture.
Nive ...
- Email
- n.kassem@bham.ac.uk
Lecturer in Hispanic Studies
Department of Modern Languages
Dr Lorraine Ryan is an award-winning international researcher in the fields of Spanish literature, memory studies, and gender. She has been a visiting fellow to the IMLR (Institute of Modern Languages Research Institute) in the University of London (2014-2015), and the Georg Eckert Institute for School Textbook Research in Leipzig (2015-16). Dr. Ryan has published extensively on ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0)121 414 7624
- Email
- l.ryan@bham.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Victorian Literature
Department of English Literature
My research focusses on the relationship between the British Empire and Victorian Literature, with specialist interests in migration, settler colonialism, memory and textual and material culture. I have further interests in decolonisation, museums, literature and the visual arts. I teach and work on a wide range of nineteenth-century and neo-Victorian literatures, with an emphasis on decolonial ...
- Telephone
- 0121 414 6038
- Email
- f.n.shaikh@bham.ac.uk
English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Tutor
Dubai Campus
Derek Fallon lectures in English for Academic Purposes at the University of Birmingham in Dubai.
He has taught in a wide range of educational settings and locations.
- Email
- d.j.fallon@bham.ac.uk
News
In June 2024, Dr Fariha Shaikh and Dr Niveen Kassem hosted an international meeting (networking meeting) in the University of Birmingham on 'Craft/ing: Exploring Migrant Memory and Identity’. The meeting brought together a diverse group of researchers, academics, writers, and artists. The goal was to establish a network of academics and community organisations, along with potential collaborators who share an interest in migration, 'crafting' /mapping memories, and shaping identities research. The meeting served as a hub to form new connections that will help in reshaping and redefining the narrative around migrant/refugee memory and identity and the creative methods to enable migrants to express themselves. The meeting was the foundation to bring multi-disciplinary experts from languages, literature, art History, and history, as well as cultural organizations, writers, artists, and creatives within the UK to work collaboratively on a potentially large funding bid.
Dr Fariha Shaikh and Dr Niveen Kassam delivered a presentation on ‘Migration, Memory and Identity in the Public Humanities’ as part of their contribution in the ‘Inclusive Citizenship Futures in the Middle East’ in Dubai on 12th of February 2024.
Dr Niveen Kassam (LCAHM Dubai) and Dr Fariha Shaikh (EDACS) were awarded QR Enhancing Research Culture Dubai/Edgbaston seed funding in Novemeber 2023 for a project entitled 'Exploring Migrant Memory and Identity in Diverse Environments: A Comparative Study of the UAE and UK'. This project is cross-disciplinary, transhistorical and transnational and explores the relationship between the making of migrants’ memories, and the making of environments through literature in the UK and the Middle East. We will interrogate how, through the long history of migration in the two countries, memories shape migrants’ sense of place, belonging and identity, as well as how migrant communities engage with and transform their new environments.
Dr Niveen Kassem presented on the impact of the past on the present in the ‘Devastation, displacement and resettlement’ workshop at Heidelberg University, April 2023.
New publication
Kassem N, Jackson M, Atkinson-Phillips A. ‘Mobilizing the past, negotiating the present: Iraqi Christians in England’. Historic Environment 2023, 33(3). Historic Environment Vol 33 number 3 2021 (2023) Heritage of Modernity and Nationalism | Australia ICOMOS
Contact us
Please contact us if you are interested in becoming a part of our interdisciplinary network.
Dr Niveen Kassem, Assistant Professor in Arabic Cultural Studies
n.kassem@bham.ac.uk